Greatest generation fought and then built

Published: Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 06:57 PM.

Ernest is well known in Alamance County for his interests in hosiery, real estate and hotels in the local area.

He is 95 years old now, and he is still in his office every day. It was there that we talked recently, not about hosiery, real estate or hotels, but about his time in World War II.

Ernest was in the Air Corps, and he served as first sergeant of a bombing squadron in China. His unit was part of the 14th air unit, the same unit that made history as the Flying Tigers under Gen. C.L. Chennault. Although in charge of unit operations, Ernest was pressed into duty several times as co-pilot on bombing missions in a B-25 Mitchell bomber. He has a model of that plane on his desk.

We talked about his time there, and he showed me a collection of photographs he has saved from his days in India, Burma and China as the Allies chased the Japanese across Asia. There were pictures of friends there, and there were several of the Chinese people who lived in the area.

There was one in particular that caught my eye — a photo of Ernest with two other airmen from Burlington who were at the Chinese base at the same time — Doug Avent and D.B. Bass. Many will know Doug as a local real estate broker for many years. And D.B. Bass? I knew that name well. He was Billie Faye’s first cousin.

As we talked I realized that Ernest is a great example of the young men from Alamance County who had their lives interrupted by war, but who came back here after it was over and made our area a better place to live.

Ernest is well known in Alamance County for his interests in hosiery, real estate and hotels in the local area.

He is 95 years old now, and he is still in his office every day. It was there that we talked recently, not about hosiery, real estate or hotels, but about his time in World War II.

Ernest was in the Air Corps, and he served as first sergeant of a bombing squadron in China. His unit was part of the 14th air unit, the same unit that made history as the Flying Tigers under Gen. C.L. Chennault. Although in charge of unit operations, Ernest was pressed into duty several times as co-pilot on bombing missions in a B-25 Mitchell bomber. He has a model of that plane on his desk.

We talked about his time there, and he showed me a collection of photographs he has saved from his days in India, Burma and China as the Allies chased the Japanese across Asia. There were pictures of friends there, and there were several of the Chinese people who lived in the area.

There was one in particular that caught my eye — a photo of Ernest with two other airmen from Burlington who were at the Chinese base at the same time — Doug Avent and D.B. Bass. Many will know Doug as a local real estate broker for many years. And D.B. Bass? I knew that name well. He was Billie Faye’s first cousin.

As we talked I realized that Ernest is a great example of the young men from Alamance County who had their lives interrupted by war, but who came back here after it was over and made our area a better place to live.

My apologies to Tom Brokaw, author of “The Greatest Generation,” if I call those young men Alamance County’s greatest generation. Brokaw’s book told the stories of average young Americans who went off to war and came home to make the future better for their families and neighbors.

There were many young men here who were just out of high school or in college preparing for their careers and ready to establish their families and their futures. But when war came, they had to put those things aside and go off to fight those who threatened the freedom of this nation.

And they took the fight to the enemy and conquered them.

When they came home, they decided they were going to get on with their lives, and in doing so they wanted to make our area a better place in which everyone here could live and work. A number of them here formed the Junior Chamber of Commerce or Jaycees as we now know it, and they undertook projects that took the name of Burlington far and wide.

They were the ones who brought the Miss North Carolina Pageant to Burlington in 1951 — the largest local pageant in the nation up to that time. And they brought it back in 1954 and 1957, attracting hundreds of visitors here to see the event — visitors who had to spend their money in our hotels and restaurants.

They spearheaded the drive to build a new football stadium adjacent to where the new Williams High School would be built.

And there were lots of other projects that helped raise the image of Alamance County across our state and nation. Some became city councilmen, others were on city boards and commissions. They were doers.

I knew a lot of those men, most of whom are gone now. I remember insurance executive Ed Hicklin and attorneys Glenn Pickard and Paul Messick, who were flying heroes in the Pacific War. There was insurance executive Earl Pardue, who was on USS Missouri the day the peace treaty was signed in Tokyo Bay. There was attorney Jim Latham, who had a role in the Nuremburg war trials in Europe.

There was mill executive Buck McNeely, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. There was editor Howard White, who was a naval officer in the Pacific, and photographer Ed McCauley, who photographed a lot of the Pacific from a B-24. And there was Terrell Lamb, a southern Alamance County soldier who experienced the horror of the death camps when he helped liberate them. Carroll Stearns was a pilot who was shot down in Europe and hidden by the Dutch until he could be returned home.

These and scores more just like them had to put their lives on hold for several years while they went off to serve our country. But they did not complain. They went, they did their job and did it well. Then they came home and decided their job was not over. There were things to do here, and they set about to do them.

When the war was over, Ernest made the long flight home, caught the train home and walked from the depot to his home on Park Avenue and surprised his parents. Then he got on with his life.

And Burlington and Alamance County are better places today because of what those young men like Ernest did. We owe them a lot.

If you know one of the World War II vets who still live among us, make an effort to let him — or her — know you appreciate what they did those long years ago. A “thank you” is worth a lot more than you can imagine.

So Ernest Koury and all you others as well, my thanks to you for what you did … not only in the war, but what you did here at home when you came back.

Don Bolden is editor emeritus of the Times-News. His column, in its 57th year, appears every Sunday. He can be contacted at DBolden202@aol.com